lO THE CHICAGO ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



In 1876 Mr. E. W. Nelson published his observations of the 

 birds of our area. These notes appeared in the Bulletin of the 

 Essex Institute, Volume VIII, 1876, under the title "Birds of 

 Northeastern Illinois." Unless otherwise stated all references to 

 the observations of Mr. Nelson are quoted from this report. 



Another valuable work, which covers a part of our area, is 

 "The Birds of Indiana," by Mr. Amos W. Butler, and published 

 by the state of Indiana as the Twenty-second Annual Report of 

 "The Department of Geology and Natural Resources." 



TERRITORY. 

 The territory covered by the Survey includes all of Cook and 

 Du Page Counties, the nine north townships of Will County and 

 the northern portion of Lake County, Indiana. In the south- 

 eastern portion of this area there are numerous lakes and streams 

 which drain into Lake Michigan and form what is known as the 

 Calumet Region. In this region lying between the Little Calumet 

 River and Lake Michigan, chiefly in Indiana, are the sand-hills 

 or dunes, some of which, northeast of Millers, Lake County, 

 Indiana, reach a height of nearly 150 feet above the Lake. Some 

 of these dunes and sand ridges are bare, but others, especially 

 those further back from the Lake, are more or less covered 

 with a scanty growth of black oak, northern scrub pine {Pinus 

 banksiana), white pine of a stunted growth, and various shrubs 

 and herbs which can live in a sandy soil. Interspersed among 

 these sand hills are quite a number of small marshes which in 

 years past formed the favorite breeding places of such water- 

 fowl as the Blue- winged Teal (Querquedula discors), the Wood 

 Duck (Aix sponsa), and the Hooded Merganser (Lophodytes 

 cucullatus). On the hills above several species of hawks and 

 the Bald Eagles are known to nest. During the year 1897 two 

 pairs of Bald Eagles raised their young near Millers, Indiana, 

 almost in sight of the city of Chicago. Owing to the draining 

 of the Calumet Region nearly all of the smaller lakes have dis- 

 appeared. Towns have. sprung up around all of the larger lakes 

 of the region, such as Calumet, George and Wolf lakes, and the 

 study of such birds as the American Egret,' Canvas-back Duck, 

 and birds of similar habits in this region is already a thing of the 

 past. The drainage in the western portion of the area, which 

 this report covers, is toward the Mississippi River, which the 

 water finally reaches by passage through the Desplaines and 



